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Personally, I think weapons are a LOT better balanced than they used to. However, there's still a lot of balancing that needs to be done to make some weapons even slightly useful. Here's a quick list of weapons that are useless for just about everything- dumbfire missiles, rapid dumbfire missiles, pretty much every cannon combo except rapid, shotgun beams, power and shield drain beams, and the entirety of the pulse weapon class. Additionally, we've got an entire weapon system that never got implemented- Minelayers. I'd like to propose some changes to the game that would make the existing weapons more balanced, as well as add Minelayers. Stuff placed in spoilers to protect you from walls of text. Surprisingly, there's a lot of that when you try to rebalance a lot of weapons.
Missiles
Cannons
Beams
Pulses
A potential way to add mines.
TL;DR- Minelayers and balance changes that people will probably argue about
BONUS CONTENT
Missiles
Missile- It's slow and it's dumbfire. Not a good combo for a weapon that can be shot down. So, point defense should have massively reduced accuracy when attempting to hit dumbfire missiles. Additionally, dumbfire missiles should accelerate. They should accelerate from their starter speed to 6x server max after travelling about 20% of their max range.
Missile/Cannon- This is also slow and dumbfire, but it has reload time on its side. Point defense should have slightly reduced accuracy against these, and they should accelerate to 6x server max after travelling about 15% of their max range.
Other missile types would not gain this acceleration ability, with the reasoning being they need to use their fuel for turns instead of acceleration.
Missile/Beam- It's way too fast, especially with how high servers set their max speeds. Is that partially a server admin problem? Yes, but it should still be addressed. Speed should be dropped from just under 6x server max to 4.25x server speed.
Missile/Cannon- This is also slow and dumbfire, but it has reload time on its side. Point defense should have slightly reduced accuracy against these, and they should accelerate to 6x server max after travelling about 15% of their max range.
Other missile types would not gain this acceleration ability, with the reasoning being they need to use their fuel for turns instead of acceleration.
Missile/Beam- It's way too fast, especially with how high servers set their max speeds. Is that partially a server admin problem? Yes, but it should still be addressed. Speed should be dropped from just under 6x server max to 4.25x server speed.
Cannons
Cannon/Cannon- Currently, it's uncontested as the best cannon weapon. High rate of fire means missing is a non-issue, and it has equal DPS, range (besides sniper cannon), and punching ability to any other cannon weapon type. It should have these changes- 8 DPS/block instead of 10 with power costs remaining the same, and a slightly worse innate punch ability.
Cannon/Missile- Here's all the explanation this weapon needs right now, from a thread I made on this issue in March-
Cannon/Pulse- The high alpha it has doesn't make up for the fact that it's easy to miss, and the diminishing ability to punch more layers with cannons means this weapon doesn't have a ton of use compared to other alpha weapons, which have higher reloads and a lesser chance to miss. Give it 12 DPS/block for the same power costs, and a slightly buffed punching ability.
Cannon/Missile- Here's all the explanation this weapon needs right now, from a thread I made on this issue in March-
Make the spread tighter, increase projectile amount a bit, give it 12 DPS/block (to make up for missed shots) with the same power cost, and give it a symetrical spread pattern instead of the garbage pattern it has right now.
Cannon/Pulse- The high alpha it has doesn't make up for the fact that it's easy to miss, and the diminishing ability to punch more layers with cannons means this weapon doesn't have a ton of use compared to other alpha weapons, which have higher reloads and a lesser chance to miss. Give it 12 DPS/block for the same power costs, and a slightly buffed punching ability.
Beams
All Damage Beams (besides Beam/Beam)- Increased range. 0.75 sector range for all of them.
Beam/Missile- Similar problems to Cannon/Missile, except hitscan for a shotgun is even worse, since it means shots that miss have a 100% chance of not hitting anything. So, I propose much tighter spread, and explosive as innate instead of pierce. This will make Beam/Missile a good weapon for ripping off a chunk of hull, allowing you to hit the insides of ships easier.
Power/Shield Drain- Longer range. Seriously, they're pretty balanced right now except for that pitiful range. Bring it up to 0.5 sector range like beams currently are.
Beam/Missile- Similar problems to Cannon/Missile, except hitscan for a shotgun is even worse, since it means shots that miss have a 100% chance of not hitting anything. So, I propose much tighter spread, and explosive as innate instead of pierce. This will make Beam/Missile a good weapon for ripping off a chunk of hull, allowing you to hit the insides of ships easier.
Power/Shield Drain- Longer range. Seriously, they're pretty balanced right now except for that pitiful range. Bring it up to 0.5 sector range like beams currently are.
Pulses
Let's not kid ourselves. Pulse is worthless for... pretty much everything. Melee combat is barely something that exists in the game, and probably never will beyond very small ships due to collision lag. So, let's make it useful. First off, pulse should use the old explosion system. Secondly, the way pulse works should change. Pulse now dumbfires a slower expanding pulse at short range. When the center of this pulse hits a block, it sticks to the block and then quickly collapses, doing damage to all blocks in the sphere. Radius is halved if it hits a ship that still has active armor HP.
Pulse- 6 second reload time. Radius of 16. 1.2x server speed. 0.25 sector range. Fully expanded at 0.2 sectors.
Pulse/Cannon- 3 second reload time. Radius of 8. 1.2x server speed. 0.25 sector range. Fully expanded at 0.1 sectors.
Pulse/Missile- Fires a shotgun spray of small pulses. 8 second reload time. Radius of 4. 1.2x server speed. 0.25 sector range. Fully expanded at 0.15 sectors.
Pulse/Beam- Fires a smaller but much faster and long range pulse. 8 second reload time. 3.5x server speed. Radius of 8. 0.65 sector range. Fully expanded at 0.5 sectors.
Pulse/Pulse- The pulse we all currently know and hate. A melee weapon for whatever the hell you would possibly need a melee weapon for in a spaceship game. It now has a larger radius and does more DPS/block, to make it slightly more useable.
Push Pulse- Stays as is, I guess. I don't really see a reason for it to remain in the game at all, though. It used to have that EMP effect, but now it works the same as a damage pulse with push effect at 100%.
Pulse- 6 second reload time. Radius of 16. 1.2x server speed. 0.25 sector range. Fully expanded at 0.2 sectors.
Pulse/Cannon- 3 second reload time. Radius of 8. 1.2x server speed. 0.25 sector range. Fully expanded at 0.1 sectors.
Pulse/Missile- Fires a shotgun spray of small pulses. 8 second reload time. Radius of 4. 1.2x server speed. 0.25 sector range. Fully expanded at 0.15 sectors.
Pulse/Beam- Fires a smaller but much faster and long range pulse. 8 second reload time. 3.5x server speed. Radius of 8. 0.65 sector range. Fully expanded at 0.5 sectors.
Pulse/Pulse- The pulse we all currently know and hate. A melee weapon for whatever the hell you would possibly need a melee weapon for in a spaceship game. It now has a larger radius and does more DPS/block, to make it slightly more useable.
Push Pulse- Stays as is, I guess. I don't really see a reason for it to remain in the game at all, though. It used to have that EMP effect, but now it works the same as a damage pulse with push effect at 100%.
A potential way to add mines.
So, now that all the existing weapons are done, how about Minelayers? They were originally planned to be a 5th weapon type,
but, due to mostly unknown issues, it's still not in the game like a year after the 0.15 weapons update. It's most likely not a code issue, but more of a balance issue. So, I'd like to offer my suggestion for how it could be added.
Mines would work similarly to missiles. However, they would have an activation time before being able to do, well, mine things, and would be stationary until triggered. Basically, mines, when dropped, initially do nothing. They need to arm themselves first. After the mine's warhead is armed, they will slowly increase their damage, until they either despawn, are activated by a hostile ship, or are bumped by a neutral or friendly ship. Your own or allied factions mines will show up on nav, provided you have it enabled. When a hostile ship is nearby, the mine will turn into a missile targetting that ship and fly towards it to deal damage. At this point, PD turrets can notice mines and will attempt to shoot them down, though depending on the mine and number of PD turrets, this may be difficult. This would probably lead to a new type of ship- Mine Clearers, mounted in large amounts of PD to clear a safe path through minefields for allied ships. Why do mines act more like sleeper missiles than mines? Simply put, regular mines aren't going to work in space. You'd need too many of them to properly mine a sector.
Mines will last quite a long time compared to most other projectiles. Mines last 24 hours in enemy territory, 48 hours in neutral/allied territory, and 168 hours (1 week) in your own territory. However, there is a limited number of mines you can place in a sector. I have no idea what would really be balanced or not, but I think 100-200 would be a fair amount for now.
Minelayer/Secondary
Primary/Minelayer
Mines would work similarly to missiles. However, they would have an activation time before being able to do, well, mine things, and would be stationary until triggered. Basically, mines, when dropped, initially do nothing. They need to arm themselves first. After the mine's warhead is armed, they will slowly increase their damage, until they either despawn, are activated by a hostile ship, or are bumped by a neutral or friendly ship. Your own or allied factions mines will show up on nav, provided you have it enabled. When a hostile ship is nearby, the mine will turn into a missile targetting that ship and fly towards it to deal damage. At this point, PD turrets can notice mines and will attempt to shoot them down, though depending on the mine and number of PD turrets, this may be difficult. This would probably lead to a new type of ship- Mine Clearers, mounted in large amounts of PD to clear a safe path through minefields for allied ships. Why do mines act more like sleeper missiles than mines? Simply put, regular mines aren't going to work in space. You'd need too many of them to properly mine a sector.
Mines will last quite a long time compared to most other projectiles. Mines last 24 hours in enemy territory, 48 hours in neutral/allied territory, and 168 hours (1 week) in your own territory. However, there is a limited number of mines you can place in a sector. I have no idea what would really be balanced or not, but I think 100-200 would be a fair amount for now.
Minelayer/Secondary
Minelayer- 30 second reload. 5 starter DPS/block. Mines take 1 minute to activate, and gain 5 DPS/block every 10 minutes, capping at 20. Dumbfire in missile mode, 5x server speed. PD turrets have reduced accuracy. Targets enemy ships at 0.08 sectors. A standard minelayer for setting a minefield without major rush.
Minelayer/Cannon- 20 second reload. 10 starter DPS/block. Mines take 20 seconds to activate, and gain 2 DPS/block every 3 minutes, capping at 16. Dumbfire in missile mode, 5x server speed. PD turrets have reduced accuracy. Targets enemy ships at 0.08 sectors. Used for setting up a quick but less effective minefield, or perhaps even for dropping mines mid-combat.
Minelayer/Missile- 35 second reload. 5 starter DPS/block. Mines take 1 minute to activate, and gain 5 DPS/block every 5 minutes, capping at 20. Launches a cloud of smaller mines that spreads out and stops after a bit. Heatseeker in missile mode, 3x sever speed. PD turrets have slightly reduced accuracy. Targets enemy ships at 0.08 sectors. An alternative for setting up minefields quickly. Heatseekers have a higher chance of hitting a ship, but are more likely to get shot down by point defense or be distracted by chaff.
Minelayer/Beam- 45 second reload. 5 starter DPS/block. Mines take 5 minutes to activate, and gain 5 DPS/block every 10 minutes, capping at 25. Lock-on in missile mode, 4x server speed. PD turrets have very slightly reduced accuracy. Targets ships at 0.1 sectors. A fast and longer activation range mine with higher alpha and DPS/block cap, but with higher chances of getting shot down.
Minelayer/Pulse- 60 second reload. 5 starter DPS/block. Mines take 10 minutes to activate, and gain 10 DPS/block every 30 minutes, capping at 30. Dumbfire in missile mode, 5x server speed. PD turrets have reduced accuracy. Targets ships at 0.05 sectors. A powerful mine with a long cooldown and a long charge up time, this is usually reserved for defense of important areas. The decreased PD accuracy, high speed, and close activation range make this mine hard to avoid if you aren't in a dedicated mine-clearer.
Minelayer/Minelayer- 20 second reload. 10 starter DPS/block. Mines take 20 seconds to activate. Mines are fired directly at 4.5x server speed, and will stick to whatever target they hit or stop upon reaching maximum range of 1.2 sectors until detonated or collided with and sticking to a ship. Maximum 12 mines fired from one ship at once, firing new ones deactivates existing ones without detonating them. Mines detonate upon right-click of the weapon. AI will automatically detonate mines upon contact with a ship.
Minelayer/Cannon- 20 second reload. 10 starter DPS/block. Mines take 20 seconds to activate, and gain 2 DPS/block every 3 minutes, capping at 16. Dumbfire in missile mode, 5x server speed. PD turrets have reduced accuracy. Targets enemy ships at 0.08 sectors. Used for setting up a quick but less effective minefield, or perhaps even for dropping mines mid-combat.
Minelayer/Missile- 35 second reload. 5 starter DPS/block. Mines take 1 minute to activate, and gain 5 DPS/block every 5 minutes, capping at 20. Launches a cloud of smaller mines that spreads out and stops after a bit. Heatseeker in missile mode, 3x sever speed. PD turrets have slightly reduced accuracy. Targets enemy ships at 0.08 sectors. An alternative for setting up minefields quickly. Heatseekers have a higher chance of hitting a ship, but are more likely to get shot down by point defense or be distracted by chaff.
Minelayer/Beam- 45 second reload. 5 starter DPS/block. Mines take 5 minutes to activate, and gain 5 DPS/block every 10 minutes, capping at 25. Lock-on in missile mode, 4x server speed. PD turrets have very slightly reduced accuracy. Targets ships at 0.1 sectors. A fast and longer activation range mine with higher alpha and DPS/block cap, but with higher chances of getting shot down.
Minelayer/Pulse- 60 second reload. 5 starter DPS/block. Mines take 10 minutes to activate, and gain 10 DPS/block every 30 minutes, capping at 30. Dumbfire in missile mode, 5x server speed. PD turrets have reduced accuracy. Targets ships at 0.05 sectors. A powerful mine with a long cooldown and a long charge up time, this is usually reserved for defense of important areas. The decreased PD accuracy, high speed, and close activation range make this mine hard to avoid if you aren't in a dedicated mine-clearer.
Minelayer/Minelayer- 20 second reload. 10 starter DPS/block. Mines take 20 seconds to activate. Mines are fired directly at 4.5x server speed, and will stick to whatever target they hit or stop upon reaching maximum range of 1.2 sectors until detonated or collided with and sticking to a ship. Maximum 12 mines fired from one ship at once, firing new ones deactivates existing ones without detonating them. Mines detonate upon right-click of the weapon. AI will automatically detonate mines upon contact with a ship.
Primary/Minelayer
Cannon/Minelayer- "Flak cannon." 1 second reload. 0.3 sectors range. 10x server speed. Explodes into a spray of cannon projectiles firing outward and to the sides upon reaching max range or upon colliding with an entity. Since there's no difference in reload time, you can customize your explosion distance by having different ratios of Cannon:Minelayer.
Missile/Minelayer- 30 second reload. 1.2 sectors range. 3x server speed. Lock-on. Spends the first quarter (0.3 sectors) of its flight as a dumbfire missile, with greatly reduced PD accuracy, at which point it locks on to the target you initially locked onto and acts like a normal lock-on. Gives the upside of being able to use lock-on missiles with less chance of being shot down by PD, but has lower reload (and thus lower alpha) than Missile/Beam, and can have a much longer travel time if improperly accounting for lead.
Beam/Minelayer- The awesome charge beam that every good space game needs. Drains half the power it needs while charging, then uses the other half upon release. Gains range and the beam increases in thickness based on damage. Begins to lose effectiveness past 75 seconds, and will automatically fire if charged for 90 seconds. Reload time is 0.5x the time spent charging. A versatile weapon that can switch between rapidfire and high alpha, at the cost of less effective reload times.
Pulse/Minelayer- 15 second reload time. 1.2x server speed. Radius of 12. 0.25 range. Pulses continue expanding their radii after sticking to a ship until it reaches its maximum. Automatically collapses upon contact if the radius is already past 75% of its maximum. Expands to 75% by .08 sectors, then slowly expands to full.
Missile/Minelayer- 30 second reload. 1.2 sectors range. 3x server speed. Lock-on. Spends the first quarter (0.3 sectors) of its flight as a dumbfire missile, with greatly reduced PD accuracy, at which point it locks on to the target you initially locked onto and acts like a normal lock-on. Gives the upside of being able to use lock-on missiles with less chance of being shot down by PD, but has lower reload (and thus lower alpha) than Missile/Beam, and can have a much longer travel time if improperly accounting for lead.
Beam/Minelayer- The awesome charge beam that every good space game needs. Drains half the power it needs while charging, then uses the other half upon release. Gains range and the beam increases in thickness based on damage. Begins to lose effectiveness past 75 seconds, and will automatically fire if charged for 90 seconds. Reload time is 0.5x the time spent charging. A versatile weapon that can switch between rapidfire and high alpha, at the cost of less effective reload times.
Pulse/Minelayer- 15 second reload time. 1.2x server speed. Radius of 12. 0.25 range. Pulses continue expanding their radii after sticking to a ship until it reaches its maximum. Automatically collapses upon contact if the radius is already past 75% of its maximum. Expands to 75% by .08 sectors, then slowly expands to full.
TL;DR- Minelayers and balance changes that people will probably argue about
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